Jim Hillibish: How long will wax paper stick around?

Internet rumors keep flying that wax paper soon will be phased out. I have a stockpile myself, just in case.

It is amazing this old-timer has held on. Plastic bags and foil and film wraps should have killed it 50 years ago, but here it is, a few rolls amid piles of newcomers in stores.

It dates to Thomas Edison and his cylinder-phonograph invention in 1887.

He didnít wrap his bologna sandwiches with it. He wrapped cardboard tubes and recorded sound on the wax with a stylus.

Tom was a genius, but he didnít know a kitchen product from a light bulb.

As refrigeration became common, wax paper and rubber bands preserved bowls of leftovers, easy to use and no faults.

Most wax paper today separates foods that would stick together in storage, such as bakery items.

The killer product of 1956 was Saran Wrap. Saran is a plastic polymer that sticks to itself, forming an automatic seal. Dow Chemical invented a way to turn it into a clear film on a roll, the perfect refrigerator and sandwich wrapper ó almost.

The first TV ads showed models wrapping everything effortlessly, but we all know it takes at least three hands and astounding patience to get that far. It sticks to itself and to you before it wraps, and when that happens, itís curtains. What a pain, but it was modern, so it caught on.

Plastic wrap forced dozens of wax-paper factories to close. Since then, wax has been on the edge of extinction.

There are jobs that only wax paper will do. Place a piece in a cake pan and lightly grease and flour it. Pour in the batter to cover, and you have a non-stick release when done. Thatís a classic.

Reynolds Cut-Rite remains the wax-paper king, but it hasnít been advertised for 25 years. Iíd bet the company would love to kill it; the only thing it sticks to is its small market which is diminishing as it ages.

I have a notion that wax paper will survive no matter what, although like Thomas Edison, we may have to make our own some day.

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